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Editorial Reviews

In the late Fifties organ had earned a place with modern jazz fans, and Paul Bryant (1933-2010) was but one of the latest organists to find an audience. He had a hard-hitting, two-fisted style that exploited the registers to the limit. In this set Bryant was blessed with the illustrious company of tenorist Curtis Amy, guitarist Jim Hall, and budding trombonist Roy Brewster. On the rhythm section, bassist Clarence S. Jones alternating with Jimmy Bond and drummer Jimmy Miller, take care of the timing with devotion and intelligence. This set includes The Blues Message and Burnin' the two albums that launched Bryant and Amy s recording careers. Tenor man Amy, a member of that masculine school of Texas-born 'preachers,' is impressive as a featured co-leader. Hall, thoroughly in the cooking spirit of things, was high-spirited and stirring in his solos, comping and balancing the predominant organ adequately. In these tunes, mostly blues with a soul-searching message (Searchin' and Still Searchin'), Bryant stomps and hollers and then drifts into the sentimental, creating, at some points, moments of pure, unadulterated truth.